Tomorrow there'll be hell to pay
by smaragdbird
Summary: Fili is the one to free Bard from prison when Smaug attacks Laketown (Fili/Bard)


"Where is Bard?" Fili asked when Bain came back alone.

"The guard took him. I think they imprisoned him for defying the master", the boy said frantically.

It was in this moment that they heard the roar.

"Are those orcs?" The little girl, Tilda, Fili remembered, asked, clutching her sister's skirt.

Fili and Tauriel exchanged a look. That hadn't been an orc roar. If Smaug was truly here, then Laketown wouldn't stand a chance. It was entirely build from wood. Outside the wind suddenly picked up, too suddenly and too strongly.

"Did Bard get to the wind-lance?" Fili asked.

Bain shook his head. "I hid the arrow in a boat."

"Show me." He ushered the boy out of the door. "Get them out of here", he called over his shoulder to Tauriel. As he followed Bain down the stairs he heard her voice, telling the girls to grab from food and clothes what was within reach.

He looked north towards Erebor, clearly lined out under the moon and the clear sky. And something else was there, approaching the city with alarming speed.

"The Dragon!"Bain yelled at the top of his voice. "The Dragon! Smaug is coming!" He and Fili hadn't been the only ones to notice. Within seconds the town was awake and in panic. Nearly everyone owned a boat, even if it was only a barge but getting to them on the small gangplanks and footbridges was tricky and people ended up in the freezing water.

"There", Bain pointed at a small boat two jetties across. "That's the one."

"Good", Fili said, keeping an eye on the boat. "Get out as fast as you can."

"But father – "

"I'll get him. I promise you."

Bain looked conflicted but Fili didn't have time for this so he shoved Bain into the crowd going the opposite way. The boy was swept away by the people around him quickly and Fili sent a quick prayer to Mahal to protect him and the girls.

As he looked north again he could see the clear outline of Smaug against the sky. Oddly enough he didn't feel afraid, just calm. He knew what he had to do: get the arrow and free Bard. Anything else was not in his hands.

Fili sprinted over the footbridge to the boat Bain had pointed at. The arrow wasn't hidden very well with only a net thrown over it. He was about to grab it when he heard, "Oi, dwarf!" Someone yanked him backwards but Fili was quick-witted enough to grab the net with the arrow tangled inside it.

"That's my boat, you filthy thief!" A man spat and threw him to the ground. Fili got back to his feed and ran without looking back, the arrow clutched in his hand. He didn't exactly know where the prisoners were kept in Laketown but he figured it would be in the master's palace. He fought through the crowd, mere feet from the palace's entrance when he heard the words:

"I AM FIRE! I AM DEATH!"

Smaug had come.

Esgaroth took to dragon fire like tinder to a spark. In the blink of an eye winter's first grasp was replaced by the heat of flames hotter than half of the forges Fili had worked in. The people's screams combined into one ungodly cacophony, deafening any other sound.

"Bard!" Fili yelled as soon as he set foot into the palace. "Bard!" Usually he would have searched in the cellars but Laketown didn't have cellars, so he took his luck with staying on the water level, figuring that the upstairs quarters would serve as living chambers.

"Bard!"

"Here." Against the dim light inside Fili saw a hand stretched out in a corridor to his left. The keys hung on a hook in the room he was in. At least he hoped they were the cell's keys.

"Good to see you again", he said when he tried the first key. It didn't fit.

"Fili?"

"At your service", Fili replied, putting the second key into the lock. No luck either.

"The arrow, I – "

"Have a little faith", Fili said and took the last key. With a deep breath he twisted it and the lock opened. Bard pushed the door open and saw the arrow lying on the ground, still tangled up in the net.

"Tilda, Sigrid, Bain..." He looked fearful.

"I told them to run when we heard Smaug approach. The elf's with them." Fili told him as they climbed up the stairs to the tower. Bard was a lot quicker, taking three steps with each move but Fili was determined to keep up.

Bard gave him the arrow when they reached a hatch door and Fili handed it back to him once Bard had climbed through before he followed him.

The town was ablaze. From up here it almost looked like the lake itself was on fire. The smoke made it hard to breathe and harder to see but Bard stood at the wind lance as if he had never done anything else in his life. Even in the midst of all of this Fili found that he admired the complete and utter focus Bard showed.

"Smaug", he bellowed, his voice strong like the king's he could have been in a different life. "The King of Dale demands retribution."

He stared into the smoke and fire as if waiting for an answer.

"Show yourself you false snake!"

"Dale burned." The dragon's voice sent shivers down Fili's spine. "Its king burned." Smaug flew over the tower, releasing another shout of flames. By a miracle the fire missed them. "Do not challenge death, you fool."

"You're the fool", Bard said and fired the arrow.

For the beat of a heart nothing happened. It was as if the world had stopped to prepare itself for what followed.

When Smaug died, he died like thunder and lightning, like a volcano erupting to burry everyone under its lava and ashes, like a rabid bear falling down a crevice.

And fall he did. Through the smoke Fili could see Smaug's body thrashing mid-air, fighting the inevitable, spewing flames into the night sky. Like a falling star he glowed bright red and gold when he plunged down and hit the water.

It was over.

Bard slowly turned towards Fili, his face void of any emotion as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. He fell to his knees just when Fili reached him and cupped his face in his hands.

"You've done it", Fili grinned, relived.

The smile Bard gave him in return, this small, hopeful smile, was too much. Fili crossed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Bard's. It was a short kiss but when they let go, Bard laughed.

"Is that my reward?"

"I think I would have kissed you if you had missed as well."

"Thank you." Bard gave him an abashed smile.

They left the roof quickly and found a boat, just big enough to fit both of them without sinking. The shore was crowded with refugees, running around like lost sheep. No one seemed to know what happened and no one was in charge. Fili watched as Bard stepped on land and took the lead immediately. Even the people, who had looked down on him, followed him now. The way he just naturally commanded authority reminded Fili of Thorin.

He moored the boat at the shore and went to search for Kili, Tauriel and Bard's children. What if they hadn't made it out, what if their boat had sunk, what if –

"Fili!" It was Bofur. Fili had never been so happy to see him before. They embraced quickly and then Bofur led Fili to their little camp. Sigrid had already gotten a fire started with what looked like the planks of a boat. Kili sat next to Tilda, both wrapped in blankets against the bitter cold. Fili shivered in the icy wind as he crossed the distance between them and hugged his brother as tightly as he could.

"What happened?" Kili asked. "We saw Smaug fall. Is he - ?"

"Bard killed him. He's helping the people over there", Fili pointed at the shore.

"If Smaug left the mountain, do you think Thorin and the others are..." Kili trailed off, not wanting to say out loud what he was thinking.

"Maybe not", Fili tried to reassure him. "We won't know until we go there. And if they're fine, they'll send a message soon enough." Privately he doubted it but if anyone could pull off such a miracle it would be their friends. "Where's the elf?"

"She went to look for the other one, the blonde one", Bofur told him.

"She saved my life", Kili said to no one in particular. "And I didn't even say thank you."

"You asked her if she could love you", Fili replied. "I think she got the idea." He grinned when his little brother blushed bright red despite the cold.

Suddenly Tilda threw her blankets off and cried, "Father!" before throwing herself at Bard with Sigrid and Bain following closely. Bard kissed his children, holding them as tightly as he could. Fili looked away. Watching them felt like intruding on something private. Instead he sat down next to Kili and asked how he was feeling.

"Better."

"You still look like shit. And I think you still have bits of walnut in your hair."

Kili gave him a dark look. Now that he was sure his little brother wasn't going to die slowly and painfully, it felt good to joke about it.

"Fili said you killed the dragon, father, is that true?" Fili heard Bain ask. Kili perked up as well while Bard looked slightly thrown by all the attention he had.

"I did", Bard said and settled down with his children next to the fire. "But not without help", he looked at Fili who shook his head and held up his hands.

"Please, tell us, father", Tilda said with big, pleading eyes.

Bard, seeing that he had no way out, quickly recounted how Fili had freed him from the prison cell and how he had shot Smaug. It was a short and unrefined story but Fili held no doubt that in a few days time it would be the grandest tale ever told.

"You're a hero", Kili said with bright, adoring eyes, a look usually reserved for Thorin, Dwalin and every elf they had come across so far. Fili couldn't help but feel a little jealous when Bard gave his brother an abashed smile in return. This kind of possessiveness was completely inappropriate at this stage, he reminded himself.

"There will be time to talk about heroics another day. And without your brother I wouldn't have made it anywhere but to a slow death", Bard replied and looked at Fili with a warm smile, which eased the sting of jealousy.

One by one the others fell asleep, exhausted from a day that had been longer than any day had the right to be. After making sure his brother was comfortable Fili walked over to Bard and sat down next to him. Around them the rest of the Laketown refugees were settling down as well. Most had a fire burning as well and Fili feared that some of those who hadn't wouldn't see the morning. He was used to the mild winters of Lindon, not the harsh cold of northern Rhovanion. Subconsciously he inched a little closer to Bard who kept their fire going.

"What do you think will happen tomorrow?" He asked Bard.

"I don't know. Hopefully nothing. We need to build shelter for the winter, ration what supplies we have, send messengers to the Iron Mountains and Mirkwood for help. What will you do?"

"We'll go to Erebor. I need to know if my friends are still alive. If not..." he trailed off. "I'll think about that tomorrow. Right now I'm simply going to be happy that we all survived."

Bard gave the still glowing ruins of Laketown a dark look. Fili slipped his hand between Bard's and tangled their fingers together. "Tomorrow", he said firmly.

Bard gave him half a smile and squeezed his hand. Tomorrow was soon enough to mourn the ones they had lost and worry about the future.

Tomorrow.


End file.
